How high-impact design teams bring product visions to life across borders.

In the past, many of the world’s most creative people—those motivated to perfect their craft— were limited to work opportunities in major hubs like London or New York.

Now, there’s a new wave of creative work emerging. It’s transforming how people around the world share their inventiveness and find access to professional opportunities. Remote work is leveling the playing field for people everywhere. Creatives, like product designers and illustrators, can engage in meaningful work from home, without leaving their mid-sized city or small town. Someone living in Busan can design an elegant app feature that’s used by millions of people across the globe.

Remote design teams, made up of people from around the world, are creating powerful design experiences without sitting in the same office or even living on the same continent. We know this firsthand – the design team at Doist is made up of eight people, product designers and illustrators, across Portugal, Germany, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom working on Todoist and Twist.

This guide to remote design will demystify the process of building a remote design team, collaborating on design across borders, and building a strong design culture without walls. We’ll share the lessons we’ve learned through trial and error and feature design advice from other remote design teams at distributed companies including Help Scout, Automattic, and Zapier.

With the right design processes and communication practices in place, teams are more powerful than time zones.